The Constitutional Court struck down the ban on marriage equality on Dec. 5, 2017, and also extended the nation's same-sex registered-partnership law to opposite-sex couples. The ruling takes effect Jan. 1, 2019, if the government doesn't implement it sooner.

Taiwan

The Constitutional Court declared the ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional on May 24, 2017, and gave the Legislative Yuan no more than two years to change laws. If it doesn't, marriage equality arrives automatically.

Sixteen Americas nations

On Jan. 9, 2018, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered Costa Rica to let same-sex couples marry. The ruling was immediately binding on Costa Rica — although weddings have been delayed as the executive branch battles the bureaucracy — and is binding legal precedent for the 19 of the other 22 signatories to the American Convention on Human Rights that accept the court's jurisdiction: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay already have marriage equality, and Mexico has it in many states. Convention signatories Dominica, Grenada and Jamaica do not accept IACHR jurisdiction.

"All countries are obligated to apply the Convention as the court applies it, so it is binding on all as precedent," said Hunter T. Carter, a partner at Arent Fox who has tried a case in the Inter-American Court and represents Chilean same-sex couples in the Inter-American system.

Notes

Dutch Caribbean

As with Bonaire and Saba, same-sex marriage should be available in the Dutch municipality of Sint Eustatius but there's no indication one has occurred. Same-sex marriage is not allowed in the Dutch constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, though Dutch marriages from elsewhere are partially recognized.

Mexico

Mexican states (there are 31) are a current hotspot of the marriage-equality movement. To date, 13 states have achived full marriage equality via three different pathways. My full article is here.

French places

In the France list above, links go to proof of a same-sex couple marrying in nine of the 11 overseas departments and collectivities. In the remaining two (Saint Barthélemy, Wallis and Futuna), same-sex marriage is legal but there's no indication one has occurred.

British places

See above for the lengthy list of British places with marriage equality. Northern Ireland, Sark (part of Guernsey) and the overseas territories Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands do not have marriage equality.

Bermuda

Bermuda had marriage equality from May 5, 2017, until Feb. 7, 2018. It arrived via a court ruling and was killed by Parliament and, ultimately, by the United Kingdom's governor on the island, John Rankin, who granted royal assent to the repeal. On Feb. 16, former Bermuda Attorney-General Mark Pettingill filed suit against the current Attorney-General on behalf of a gay man who wants to get married, arguing the repeal was unconstitutional. Around the same time, a boycott reportedly started organizing of the world's biggest cruise-ship operator, which has multiple ships registered in Bermuda.

The only other place ever to repeal marriage equality was California, where voters halted it in 2008 and federal courts reinstated it in 2013. Voters in the U.S. state of Maine once blocked a marriage-equality law from coming into force, in 2009, and then reversed themselves and allowed marriage equality, in 2012. Voters in Slovenia blocked a marriage-equality law from coming into force in 2015.

Ireland

On May 22, 2015, Ireland became the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote. Irish people amended their constitution to bring in marriage equality by a landslide margin of 62.07% to 37.93%.

The United States Minor Outlying Islands — Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean, and Navassa Island in the Carribean Sea — would have marriage equality. Their only population nowadays is a small number of temporarily assigned scientists and military personnel.

Antarctica

Marriage equality exists in much of Antarctica, given the nations that claim portions of the continent as national territory: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, United Kingdom.

On the high seas

You can marry a same-sex partner at sea on Celebrity Cruises ships, courtesy of the Malta Parliament's passage of marriage equality in July 2017.

U.S. Indian tribes

There are 567 of them, and they are not covered by the June 26, 2015, U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. At least 22 tribes, listed below, have legalized same-sex marriage to date. A number of others follow the marriage law of the state in which they are located, so same-sex marriage is legal within the tribe without any additional tribal action.

The Human Rights Campaign produced this fab map. Enlarging it to about 400% reveals every speck of the earth where same-sex couples can marry.

Watch list

Chile

Congress began debate on President Michelle Bachelet's marriage-equality bill in November 2017. After the last election, when new congressmembers are seated in March, both houses of Congress will have majority support for marriage equality. The Jan. 9, 2018, Inter-American Court of Human Rights marriage-equality ruling — which created binding precedent for 16 nations without marriage equality that are signatories to the American Convention on Human Rights — applies to Chile. See the "Sixteen Americas nations" item in the "Final rulings issued" section above.

Ecuador

A marriage-equality case (an "extraordinary protection action") is pending before Ecuador's Constitutional Court and the ruling is, by law, years overdue. In the wake of the Jan. 9, 2018, Inter-American Court of Human Rights marriage-equality ruling, if the Ecuador decision doesn't come soon, plaintiffs say they will advance to the Inter-American system. On Jan. 15, the Ecuadorian Federation of LGBTI Organizations called on President Lenín Moreno to recognize marriage equality immediately.

Northern Ireland

The UK territory of Northern Ireland doesn't have a government because the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin power-sharing agreement collapsed in January 2017 and hasn't been restored due to disagreement about marriage equality and local language rights. It's possible any resolution to the impasse could see introduction of equal marriage in the last major area of the United Kingdom that doesn't have it. On Dec. 19, 2017, a failed attempt to achieve marriage equality via the courts was appealed.

According to activists, there's nothing in Paraguay's constitution that stands in the way of marriage equality. In the wake of the Jan. 9, 2018, marriage-equality ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, activist group SomosGay announced two new lawsuits at the nation's Supreme Court of Justice. As a first step, the suits seek recognition of two marriages of same-sex couples who married abroad.

Peru

In the wake of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' Jan. 9, 2018, marriage-equality ruling, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Duberlí Rodríguez, said, "Peru is part of the Inter-American system, and the organism that defends and protects these rights is called the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and ... if the court has taken a decision, I believe that all the parties are called to respect that decision." A legal case is on appeal in the Fourth Civil Chamber of the Lima Superior Court of Justice in which veteran LGBT activist Óscar Ugarteche is trying to get the National Registry (RENIEC) to recognize his Mexican marriage to Fidel Aroche. Ugarteche and Aroche won in a lower court, and constitutional experts say the appeal is one path for Peru to move toward compliance with the Inter-American Court ruling. Meanwhile, a marriage-equality bill was introduced in Congress in 2017 and is awaiting action by the Justice Committee.

Venezuela

Two marriage-equality lawsuits are in their final stage in the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, reports Venezuela Igualitaria. The group said it expects rulings very soon and expects to win. One lawsuit targets Civil Code Article 44, which says: "Marriage cannot be contracted except between one man and one woman." ("El matrimonio no puede contraerse sino entre un solo hombre y una sola mujer.") The other lawsuit alleges a "legislative omission" resulting from the National Assembly's failure to take up the Equal Civil Marriage Bill (Proyecto de Ley de Matrimonio Civil Igualitario). "2018 looks to be a year with favorable judicial decisions on our ... cases for the rights of LGBTI people," Venezuela Igualitaria said.

Geography lesson

Where are those 44 other jurisdictions of Australia, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, UK and USA?

Friday, January 26, 2018

Mexico's wild ride to marriage equality

Mexico is a current hotspot of the marriage-equality movement. Here's where things stand as of Jan. 26, 2018.

As was the case in the U.S., Mexico's legalization of same-sex marriage is proceeding state by state but unlike in the U.S., there is no possibility for a single ruling from the highest court that will overturn same-sex marriage bans nationwide. Even the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) will have to go state by state.

Mexico has 31 states plus the federal entity Mexico City. Marriage equality has arrived in Mexico City and in 13 states — via three different routes: Legislative legalization, Supreme Court rulings, and state administrative decisions to stop enforcing their ban:

Same-sex marriage also became possible everywhere else in Mexico following a June 3, 2015, ruling by the SCJN's First Chamber, but only if a couple is able to jump through some hoops. The ruling declared that any law that defines marriage as "between a man and a woman" is unconstitutional (and therefore is ultimately doomed) — and the declaration of unconstitutionality means that when any same-sex couple (or group of couples) goes to a federal judge and asks for an injunction (amparo) against the local civil registry allowing them to marry, the judge must grant it. The process works and couples use it, but it can take more than a month and cost up to US$2,000 to pay a lawyer for help.

As Mexico's marriage-equality movement continues, more states should see the freedom to marry without couples having to get an amparo. In each state, it would happen one of four ways:

1. The state congress will legalize same-sex marriage.

2. The state government will decide to stop enforcing its ban on same-sex marriage. (While this gets the job done, it could be reversed by a new administration.)

3. The Supreme Court will kill a state's ban via the route that happened in Jalisco, Chiapas and Puebla states.

Here's how that works. When any law is passed in Mexico and takes effect, there is a 30-day window for certain governmental entities to challenge the law with an "action of unconstitutionality" filed with the full Supreme Court. What Jalisco, Chiapas and Puebla did is make some changes to their marriage laws, unrelated to marriage equality, and the revised paragraphs also included existing man-woman language. The revisions qualified as "new" laws that could be challenged during the 30 days after they took effect. The National Human Rights Commission filed actions of unconstitutionality against the man-woman language and the SCJN struck down the three states' bans in separate rulings in 2016 and 2017. The states likely were unaware they were setting up their same-sex-marriage bans for strikedown. There are no more cases of this type pending at the court at this time.

4. A project of the organization México Igualitario — which led to the 2015 SCJN ruling telling judges nationwide that they must approve all marriage-equality amparos — is likely to succeed state by state. It's not easy to understand, so in a nutshell:

When one of Mexico's 256 second-level federal appeals courts or the First Chamber of the federal Supreme Court rules that an existing law is unconstitutional in five separate amparo rulings in a row, and uses identical language in each ruling, that creates "jurisprudence" against that law — and jurisprudence can then be used to force a state congress to eliminate the law — in this case, a ban on same-sex marriage.

It's an unusual process, for sure, but it's ongoing nationwide and several states are well on the way to arriving at the magic number of five identical rulings in a row from a higher-level court. When a state gets there, the Supreme Court then has the power to move directly against a state's legislature.

And that's Mexico's march toward marriage equality in a nutshell. The key thing to remember is that the 2015 ruling by the federal Supreme Court's First Chamber created jurisprudence binding on all courts that any ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. That's why state legislatures are legalizing same-sex marriage, why some state and city governments have stopped enforcing bans, and why federal politicians, including Mexico's president, have supported marriage equality by attempting to change federal laws and the federal Constitution. Because all bans eventually will be struck down anyway.

The jurisprudence says: "Marriage. The law of any federative entity that, on the one hand, considers that the end of it [marriage] is procreation and/or that defines it [marriage] as that which is celebrated between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional." ("Matrimonio. La ley de cualquier entidad federativa que, por un lado, considere que la finalidad de aquél es la procreación y/o que lo defina como el que se celebra entre un hombre y una mujer, es inconstitucional.")

PEÑA NIETO: On May 17, 2016, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto proposed amending Mexico's Constitution to make marriage equality the law of the land and sent his proposal to Congress. On Nov. 9, 2016, the proposal was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies' Committee on Constitutional Matters, and died. The vote was 19-8 with 1 abstention. 'Yes' votes came from the PRD and Morena party deputies and from two PRI deputies, one of whom is openly gay. 'No' votes came from the PAN, PRI, PVEM, PANAL and PES parties.

It remains unclear whether marriage equality could have been imposed on the states via the pathway Peña Nieta proposed because marriage regulation is a matter of state, not federal, law. In the courts, though, it's a different story. State bans on same-sex marriage have been found unconstitutional because Article 1 of Mexico's Constitution bans "all discrimination motivated by ... sexual preferences."

(Amending Mexico's Constitution requires a two-thirds vote by members present the day of the vote in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic, followed by ratification by the state congresses of at least 16 of Mexico's 31 states. Mexico City doesn't get to vote on ratification.)

NEW LGBTI ACTIVISM: Peña Nieto's move, Congress' procrastination on his bills, and vocal opposition to his plan from religious figures spurred unprecedented organizing and activism by Mexican LGBTI groups and the formation of new groups — including Movimiento por la Igualdad en México (MOViiMX) and Frente Orgullo Nacional MX (FONMX).

OPPONENTS ORGANIZE: Peña Nieto's move likewise stirred unprecedented organizing by opponents of same-sex marriage, who staged marches and rallies across the country on Sept. 10, 2016 — some of them very big — and a large march in Mexico City on Sept. 24, 2016. Opponents also collected signatures and submitted citizens' initiatives to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies to amend the Constitution to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples. Congress has taken no action on the initiatives.

ADOPTION: On the eve of the Mexico City march, the Supreme Court issued jurisprudence binding on all courts securing adoption rights for same-sex couples nationwide. It says: "ADOPTION. The best interest of the minor is based on the suitability of the adopters, within which are irrelevant the type of family into which [the minor] will be integrated, as well as the sexual orientation or civil status of [the adopters]." ("Adopción. El interés superior del menor de edad se basa en la idoneidad de los adoptantes, dentro de la cual son irrelevantes el tipo de familia al que aquél será integrado, así como la orientación sexual o el estado civil de éstos.")

These three states prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation but not gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations: New Hampshire, New York, Wisconsin.

(The New York State Division of Human Rights promulgated regulations that took effect Jan. 20, 2016, prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity, transgender status or gender dysphoria in employment, housing and public accommodations. Courts have not yet ruled on whether the department was correct in determining that existing protections based on sex automatically prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.)

Utah prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and housing but not in public accommodations.

On April 4, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago ruled 8-3 that the 1964 Civil Rights Act's ban on employment discrimination based on sex is also a ban on employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. The 7th Circuit covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, so employment discrimination based on sexual orientation now is banned in Indiana also. The ruling had immediate effect and the defendant, a college in Indiana, opted not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

There are active cases around this issue in the 2nd Circuit (at the en banc stage), 4th Circuit (on appeal from federal district court), and 8th Circuit (on appeal from federal district court), as well as resolved cases at the 11th Circuit (a loss for LGB protections) and the 1st Circuit (a partial win for LGB protections).

Twenty-six states and three territories have no statewide/territorywide LGBT protections. But in many of those 26 states, there are protections in large cities and university towns. Local nondiscrimination ordinances, however, sometimes do not have the teeth of state or federal laws.

Monday, September 01, 2014

Mexico's Coahuila state legalizes same-sex marriage

For the first time, a Mexican state legislature has voted to legalize same-sex marriage.

The Sept. 1 vote by the Congress of the state of Coahuila was 19-1.

The new law, which alters more than 40 parts of the state's Civil Code, takes effect in one week.

According to reports, the law says, "Marriage is the free union with full consent of two people, which has as its objective to realize community life where both [people] seek respect, equality and mutual aid, and make in a free, responsible, voluntary and informed way reproductive decisions that fit their life project, including the possibility of procreation or adoption."

The law's "exposition of motives" says it "puts an end to the restrictions and limitations imposed on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, travesti, transgender and intersex community, which constitute a constitutional and international violation."

The 19 'yes' votes came from members of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) and local parties. The 'no' vote came from a member of the Democratic Unity Party.

Coahuila borders the U.S. state of Texas. Its capital, Saltillo, is 191 miles (307 km) south of Laredo, Texas.

Full marriage for same-sex couples is legal two other places in Mexico -- the Federal District (Mexico City), where it was passed by legislators, and the state of Quintana Roo, where the secretary of state determined in 2012 that the state's Civil Code did not specify sex or gender requirements for marriage.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

San Diego LGBT Pride today

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Prop 8 dies, plaintiff couples marry

Prop 8 federal case plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier were married yesterday afternoon at San Francisco City Hall by California Attorney General Kamala Harris. Plaintiffs Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo were married last evening (video) at Los Angeles City Hall by Mayor Antontio Villaraigosa.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Gays march through San Diego as Prop 8 dies

More than 1,000 people took to the streets of San Diego Tuesday evening in celebration of the demise of Prop 8 and DOMA. The impromptu march closed down about seven blocks of major thoroughfare University Avenue in the heavily gay Hillcrest district. The peaceful crowd eventually crammed itself into the LGBT Community Center for drinks, hors d'oeuvres and more partying.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

DOMA's day at the Supreme Court

My photos from outside the U.S. Supreme Court this morning. It is quite likely the justices will strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, finding it unconstitutional for equal-protection reasons.